


Afternoon Drive

by underestimating_daisy



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Driving, F/M, Jean kirschtein - Freeform, Sasha Braus - Freeform, Teenagers, and not very shippy, this is so self indulgent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-11
Updated: 2014-02-11
Packaged: 2018-01-11 23:27:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,983
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1179207
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/underestimating_daisy/pseuds/underestimating_daisy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jean promised Sasha that she could drive his car whenever she managed to get her license.<br/>Not long after her 16th birthday, she and Jean go for a drive on a warm summer afternoon.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Afternoon Drive

     “This is a terrible idea. How did I let you talk me into this?”

     “Well, I didn’t talk you into it. I grabbed your keys, ran, you couldn’t catch me, and here we are…”

     “Still though, I probably could stop this from happening…”

     “No, you definitely can’t.”

     Jean let out a long sigh, which Sasha replied to with a delighted giggle. She stood on the driver’s side of Jean’s old beat up car, her hand poised on the handle. He stared daggers at her from across the car on the passenger side. With another huff, Jean opened the door and threw himself onto the seat. “Well?” he called, before the shutting the door with more force than necessary. Sasha let out another giggle, stomped her feet happily a few times, and joined Jean in the car.

     She slipped in behind the wheel, put the keys in the ignition, and just sat. She sat admiring the way it felt to be in the driver’s seat. She ran her hands along the wheel and over the radio, buttons and all. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, drinking in the feeling of freedom.

     “What the hell are you doing?” Jean asked her, eyebrows raised at the odd behavior.

     “Shut up.” Without opening her eyes, Sasha reached over and gently hit Jean’s arm. “I am trying to properly experience this moment and you are ruining it.”

     “It’s not like you’ve never driven before,” he remarked.

     “Yeah… well… This is the first time driving with my license, okay!” It was true. Sasha had finally turned 16, so, a week later, her dad took her to the DMV to get her license.

     “I don’t like this one bit.”

     Sasha’s eyes snapped open and she turned her head to face Jean. “Are you scaaaaared?” she taunted.

     “Hell yeah, I’m scared,” he admitted unashamed. “According to your dad, you barely passed the driving test and the instructor practically kissed the ground when you guys got back!”

     “Hmmm…” was her coy reply.

     A little nervous laughter bubbled out of Jean’s mouth and he side-eyed the excited brunette. “Whys it gotta be my car we take anyway?”

    Sasha laughed loudly and replied, “Because my papa won’t let me get near his car on my own…” She looked back at the wheel and frowned. “Plus, you promised.”

    Jean narrowed his eyes. Yeah, he had promised. Months ago. When he figured it’d take Sasha years to get her license. The crazy girl had managed to get it right away though, and he was a man of his word after all. Ignoring the pit in his stomach, Jean grabbed his seat belt and buckled it, making sure it was secure. He looked over at the still frowning girl sitting behind the wheel of his car, his precious car, and raised his eyebrows. “Well?” he said again, impatience creeping into his tone.

   Sasha, however, was unfazed by it and perked up immediately, grabbing her seatbelt, checking her mirrors, and finally starting the car. She carefully backed out of the driveway, to Jean’s surprise, and they were off. “Here we gooooo,” she called happily and Jean put his head in his hands, utterly defeated.

  
~~~

  
     It was all going just fine until Jean noticed Sasha heading for the city. She lived pretty far out in the boonies and Jean had gone to her house to pick her up, so he figured they would just stick around that area, driving far away from any potential side-swipes or head on collisions. That had clearly not been Sasha’s plan.

     He looked over at her smug smiling face, a look of mild terror on his, and a small choked noise escaped his throat. Sasha looked over, eyes wide and curious, and Jean shook his head wildly. “No, no, no. First of all, eyes back on the road. Second of all, NO.”

     “What?” Sasha asked, facing the road once more. She had thought everything was going smoothly, but Jean’s sudden outburst indicated otherwise. She wasn’t speeding, both hands stayed on the wheel (for the most part), and she was swerving considerably less than usual. What could it be?

     “You’re going the wrong way,” his was voice level and emotionless.

     “The wrong way? We’re not even going anywhere in particular!”

     “ _You are_. You’re headed for civilization. There was definitely an unspoken part of this deal where you agreed to not drive near other cars.”

     “What?! That’s crazy. How am I supposed to avoid other cars? I don’t control who drives where!” Sasha yelled, swerving a little too far to the left for Jean’s comfort. “And I swear, if you hit your invisible brake one more time I will pull over and abandon you in the middle of nowhere!”

     “Don’t change the subject,” he said.

     Sasha’s ears started to turn pink and an unwelcome smirk played on her lips. Maybe she had been purposely going towards the city, but it wasn’t a malicious choice. She just wanted to buy Jean dinner because he’d been surprisingly generous to not back out of the deal. Sasha was notoriously reckless to some degree and even though it was purely accidental (most of the time) she was well aware that absolutely none of the others who had cars would ever let her near the driver’s seat. Not even Connie, who was her very best friend… and also a terrible driver.

     “Fiiiiiiiiiine,” she huffed. “I’m making _you_ buy _me_ dinner then.”

     “What?”

     “Oh, um, nothing.”

     “Just turn up here, alright,” Jean gestured to the left.

     “You’re going to make me drive on the back-road highway aren’t you?”

     “Absolutely. Two wide empty lanes for you to swerve arou… I mean drive on,” Jean said with a self-satisfied grin.

     Sasha reached over and punched him on the arm. She adopted her own self-satisfied grin as she placed her hand back on the wheel because she could see in her peripheral vision Jean rubbing his arm. What a wimp.

     She took Jean’s directions without any further complaint or comment. It wasn’t like she didn’t know exactly where she was going and she knew Jean was aware of that fact, but he kept telling her what turns to take and she let him.

  
~~~

  
     Not too long had passed and Sasha made her final turn. They were finally on the back-road highway that was, to Jean’s delight, completely car-free. He made a small noise to indicate that delight and it bugged Sasha immediately. It wasn’t like she’d ever deny the fact that her driving methods were unorthodox, but it wasn’t like she’d ever actually gotten into any accidents or killed anyone yet. The total lack of confidence burned, especially coming from Jean who was actually a really good driver… Not that Sasha would ever admit that out loud.

     ‘ _I’ll destroy that stupid relief you feel… Get your invisible break ready, idiot,_ ’ she thought to herself. Deliberately and slowly taking her eyes off the road, she faced Jean and smiled widely. The car started to pull to the right and Jean looked directly at Sasha, the panic already creeping into his eyes.

     “Hey! What the hell, Sasha! Eyes on the road!”

     She giggled and corrected the car, putting her eyes back on the road and started rolling down the windows. “Loosen up, Jean.” Sasha hit the gas, only speeding a little bit, so that the wind blew through the car a little harder. Her bangs blew around her face and she felt her ponytail going wild from the fast moving air. Sasha swore she could feel the anxiety rolling off Jean.

     Jean stared at Sasha, just stared. He couldn’t believe it. Driving the deserted highway was supposed to be relaxing but of course wild Sasha Braus managed to mess that up. He shook his head and readjusted himself in the seat, leaning back hard to show his annoyance. Jean decided he’d ignore it. Sasha wasn’t doing anything that distracting anyway and there wasn’t a single car around. He conveniently ignore the plethora of other objects prime for wrecking into, though.

     Sasha was not pleased with Jean’s newly adopted attitude. He looked too disinterested and cool to their situation for her taste. She reached towards the radio and cranked the volume dial. She saw Jean jump in surprise and her smile grew wider. Leaving her hand off the wheel, she put her elbow on the armrest and started belting out the lyrics.

     “ **We've waited so damn long, we're sick and tired! I won't leave any doubt or stone** **unturned!** "

     “Sasha, no!” Jean yelled over the music. He went to turn the volume down, but her free hand slapped his away from the radio. He looked up at her, bewildered. She just flashed him a quick grin and went back to singing. He was staring at her again, but she somehow looked different from just a few minutes before. Her hair blowing around her face, her voice loud and off-key, the late afternoon sun shining behind her… Jean didn’t think he’d ever seen her look so happy. He knew that she always talked about how free it would feel to be able to drive on her own, be totally independent and in charge of her own destinations. Jean always thought that was Sasha’s lame attempt at being metaphorical or philosophical, but maybe it was literal after all. He couldn’t deny the atmosphere she’d created and how beautiful she looked like that… Jean turned away, blushing. ‘ _What a stupid time for such stupid thoughts._ ’

     ‘ _Well he doesn’t seem to care, looking out the window like that,_ ’ Sasha thought with a shrug. Oh well, at least he wasn’t being rude about her driving anymore. Not like it’d matter anymore, because she was thrilled. The back-road turned out to be a lot more fun for Sasha than she’d expected because she could go a little faster and play the radio a little louder. It was pleasant and Sasha knew that every hope she’d had for being a legally licensed driver would be her reality.

     While Sasha let herself get lost in the moment, Jean turned to look back out the windshield. Sasha’s advice to loosen up rattled through his brain. She really hadn’t done anything to warrant anxiety about her driving skills. To be fair, none of them had actually seen her drive. They’d just heard her dad’s stories (which were probably exaggerated) and assumed her driving would be as erratic and strange as everything else she did. Jean sighed inwardly and decided to just let it all go. Sasha really had made this drive fun for herself, so being her passenger should be fun too.

     Feeling a little awkward, Jean joined Sasha’s singing. “ **You've got it all worked out with so little time! Memories that I'd blackout if you were mine…** ”

     Soon though, it felt easy for Jean and they both belted out the lyrics to the song on the radio and got lost in the drive. Without thinking, Jean reached over and took Sasha’s free hand into his. She was caught off guard and jerked the wheel a little too hard, but she quickly recovered. Jean laughed at her, but kept hold of her hand. She glared at him, but didn’t let go of his hand either.

     The ride continued that way for a while, just the two of them alone on the highway with the warm summer breeze blowing through the windows, their voices loud and off-key, hand in hand. Both of them happy with how Sasha’s promised first drive had turned out, pleased for different reasons and pleased for some of the same reasons.

“ **'Cause there's always time for second guesses I don't wanna know.**  
 **If you're gonna be the death of me, that's how I wanna go,**  
 **Oh oh oh.**  
 **Oh, show me your love, your love.**  
 **Gimme more but it's not enough.**  
 **Show me your love, your love,**  
 **Before the world catches up…** ”

**Author's Note:**

> It got a little rough there at the end, my apologies.  
> Thank you for reading, any and all feedback is much appreciated!  
> ( _the song is Collar Full by Panic! at the Disco if you were wondering!_ )


End file.
